Have you ran out of gas on your bike?

[Bugnatr]

Interesting thread on another forum made me wonder if any of our FJR peeps have run out of gas on there FJR or other bikes?

My only close encounter with the empty side was some years ago on my ST1100 as I rode from Fallon Nv. to Ely. It's 257 miles and made it just as the fuel light came on in Ely so I figured I could make it back the next day on a tank of gas. Wrong- due to some +100mph riding the ST became real thirsty (damn carbs). Getting to Fallon became a challenge the last 40 miles and I did run out of gas just as I coasted into the first gas station on the Ely side of Fallon. Whew, lucky day.

Funny part was their this girl filling up her small Harley with the peanut gas tank when I coasted in.When I told her I had just ran out of gas she asked how far I had ridden. After telling her 257 miles she just kind of stared in disbelief, must be she has to get gas every hundred miles or so and could not comprehend 250 mile on a tank.

 

[BkerChuck]

Didn't run out but did pump in 6.56 gallons once. Had gone about 76 miles with the low fuel light blinking at me.

 

[majicmaker]

That's about right. When my last pixel starts flashing, I stop and it always lets exactly 5 gals in so, 1.5 gals left at that point.

 

[Bustanut joker]

I ran out on my KZ 650 35 years ago... I pushed for about half a mile, then decided it'd be easier and faster to just pull the tank and carry it the almost 2 miles to the only station open after midnight.

I still remember how heavy the damned thing was when full. Ended up dumping out half of it before I got more than a block or two.


The harley gal doesn't surprise me.. Most of those guys think 100 miles a day is a long ride.

 

[SLK50]

I've never actually run dry but have on a few occaissions ridden to a

point where I could go no further.

It never fails that its always in BFE, at night no less and usually a

weekend.

Once, in Hutchinson, NB, I considered camping in the gas station

until it opened. Fortunately, the Sheriff was helpful and got the

owner to come down and open up.

It's quite a relief when you put in over 6-1/4 gals and realize it

could have been a lot worse had you not found a pump.

 

[Fred W]

Yes, and no. Ran out of fuel, but still managed to ride the bike to a gas station with no walking.

It was at EOM '11 in Cumberland Falls, KY. We had a fairly brisk group ride going on Saturday, down through TN and into the north west corner of NC. Let's just say that my mileage was not very good for that ride, and I had overestimated my range and failed to fill up when I had a chance earlier in the ride thinking I still had XX number of miles to empty. I think I went on reserve at about 150 miles (normally that doesn't occur until ~ 200) and the reserve only lasted 45 miles until it was sputtering.

When the engine started sputtering I managed to get it revived three times by shaking the bike violently side to side and some fuel splashed over to the fuel pump pickup, then it would run for a few more minutes on the new charge. Rolled into the first gas station in town and it looked closed. I thought I was toast, but luckily it was actually open and I pumped 6.6 gallons into the tank, with only vapors remaining.

I guess the guys out west have this figured out. They always preach, never ride past an open gas station.

 

[Spud]

55 mph in a full tuck (eco mode) is a lot more exciting and stressful than 110 when your last "gas stop" in the middle of nowhere looked like this:

Their snack selection wasn't the best either...

 

[0Face]

Run out of gas in Nebraska. Gas was at the next exit, but they didn't say I had to go 5 miles into town. Ran out within sight of the Sunoco Sinclair Dinosaur. Would been fine had the station actually been at the exit!

Edit: Thanks for the correction, those are extinct where I live.

 

[Top_Speed1]

Ashamedly yes. I will note that it fires back up quite quickly, I was expecting a lot of cranking... nope.

 

[TomInPA]

Run out of gas in Nebraska. Gas was at the next exit, but they didn't say I had to go 5 miles into town. Ran out within sight of the Sunoco Dinosaur. Would been fine had the station actually been at the exit!

Wouldn't that be a Sinclair Dino?

I have not run out of gas and rarely come close. Reserve on this bike is huge. I have however fetched fuel for some unfortunate rider that was with me with a smaller tank, and stuck somewhere west of Blanding, UT..

 

[RichDoyle]

I've not run out in my FJR, but I have run out 3 times. Once trying to "stretch it" in my SL350K1 (1972). The other 2 are kind of interesting:

In 1971 I ran out of gas in my BSA 441 Victor. Very crappy bike, really. Among it's crappy features:

1. A tiny gas tank.
2. An odometer that just moved randomly from the vibration that had destroyed its innards.
3. A reserve valve that decided to leak inwardly, leaving it on reserve when I thought was not.
4. An inability to actually roll down anything but the steepest hills.

I was out in what was then pretty open country on South Wadsworth near the Chatfield reservoir SW of Denver. Wound up pushing it downhill to a no-longer-existing Columbine airport and putting in a gallon of 100-octane aviation fuel.

In 2002 I had fuel starvation on my ST1100 coming uphill in Mukilteo from the ferry. I'm still not sure what happened. Fuel was low, but I should have had another 25 miles available. It quit 1 mile short of the gas station I was planning to stop at. I had to hoof it up the hill, buy a gas can and hoof it back down to the bike. The only thing I can figure is that maybe, if one got low enough on fuel, a relatively steep uphill road might have caused it to unport the fuel feed.

 

[ionbeam]

I have put 6.5 gallons in my tank but dunno how close I actually was to flame-out.

 

[Eric L]

I thought I was running on vapors on Skyline drive - literally coasted down off the drive with the engine off, got to the gas station, over 6 gallons. Guess it wasn't that close of a call, but disconcerting nonetheless.

 

[airboss]

US 34 in S. Dakota (another empty highway), started surging on the downhill run into Pierre, SD. 6 .6 gal at the pump. Won't count on it picking up that last 1/2 gal in the tank.

 

[Clovis]

Never on the FJR.

Have come rather close. Sometimes I carry around a MSR fuel bottle (about 1/4 gal of gas).

My last over night trip was with two friends on Ducati Hypermotards and their 3.3 gallon tanks... stopping for gas every 70 miles or so really killed our time! Haha.

On my very first trip to the Devil's Highway (Arizona) in 2008, I was on my R1 with a couple FJRs in the group of 6. The group leader insisted on riding 130mph through the Navajo desert in New Mexico and Arizona. No fuel guage on the R1, just a fuel light which meant .9 gallons remaining. Normally that light would come on around 120-130 miles... it came on at 90 miles after 45 minutes or so of these sustained high speeds.

Middle of no where, unfamiliar road and no way to tell those in front of me I was running out of gas (they were a mile ahead). Came across a this huge (brand new?) Chevron station in the middle of no where. Stopped for Gas.

Then the next day, running through Arizona... high speed, fuel light.. middle of no where. Expecting the bike to run out of gas at any minute there was another random gas station in the middle of no where. I think I had .1 gallons remaining, ha!

 

[LKLD]

No.

 

[bigjohnsd]

I've never run out on a motorcycle. Used to carry a gallon in my saddle bag on my last bike, Yamaha Roadstar Warrior, with only a 3.6 gallon tank and 40 mpg at best it was prudent.

I have run out several times in cars, the worst time being when I was bringing my wife and newborn son home from the hospital in a Diesel Rabbit. Thankfully I could park it under a shade tree and walk the mile or so home to pick up another car. Needless to say SWMBO occasionally brings this up 32 years after the fact.

 

[gregory]

Though I was pushing the '13 last weekend coming back from a friends house on the slab. Screen went from miles left to counting up from hitting reserve. (Found out you can toggle back to miles left.) Passed a station just as I hit reserve, figuring there was another right up the road. Just up the road became (in my mind) quite a bit of distance. The miles left went from XXX to "Lo" and kind of upped the pucker factor. Set the cruise at 55 and tucked in and got passed by everybody that I had blew by in the last half hour. Finally pulled into a station and put 5.5 gal in.

 

[hppants]

Came close years ago on a Nighthawk. I got to a fuel station on fumes only to discover that I left my wallet at HOME!! By some miracle, a dude I went to high school with (who I hadn't seen in at least 15 years) pulled up and gave me $5 of gas. Now I've got a crisp $20.00 bill under the seat for emergencies.

However, Mr. Spastic here has run out of gas twice on the FJR. Once on the top of a mountain in the Ozarks. I coasted downhill 2.5-ish miles into the town of Jasper. Blasted right through the stop sign at rolled right into the gas station like I new exactly what I was doing. The other time wasn't so glamorous, but I was only about 1/2 mile from fuel and had a buddy there to help.

My bike will take EXACTLY 6.6 gallons when the tank is dry. I'm told the last gallon on the ST1300 is not useable, making their range basically equal to ours. Can't confirm nor deny that rumor, though.